rather than an expedient or polite
reaction to a situation can make all the difference. Don't walk
through that darkened park, don't give that guy at speed dating your
phone number, don't buy the lipstick the salesgirl just 'LOVES '...
I had one of those on my birthday.
After a lovely relaxed morning at the beach with my family, my
husband and the baby and I drove over to a nearby town pondering what
to do with our afternoon. I remembered something I had done in my
pre-baby life, a relaxing, pampering type of something that seemed
perfect for a birthday girl. I would get a haircut!
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| Rover and her mum at the beach |
The first hairdressers we saw was
closed so we wandered on – knowing that the spur of the moment
appointment may not be forthcoming. When I spied the second
hairdressers I was perhaps a little too quick to be pleased about the
'No Appointments Necessary' sign in the window.
The moment I should have followed my
gut was not on entering, but a little later. I was already in the
gown and sitting in the chair. I undid the braid my hair had been in
for three days – and saw that it was a good hair day for me – a
good hair day being that my hair was not in one giant clump at the
back of my head but hanging in limp clotted mess around my shoulders.
The moment I should have left was when
I asked her if she could wash my hair before she cut it and she told
me - as I sat in front of the hair washing sink – NO they did not
do hair washing. If I had stood up at that point and said thanks but
no thanks I could have had a shot at my relaxed afternoon of
pampering. But no, instead I got a brusque lady wrenching a comb
through my poor sorry hair and lecturing me on the terrible state I
had gotten it into.
I am a new mum; there are probably many
things I could do better in my life – but spending time on
personal grooming is low on the list of priorities just now. Which it
is why an impromptu afternoon at the hair dressers is a treat. It is
not just a new hair do that makes you feel like a new woman, it is
the 20 mins or so guilt free reading of glossy magazines on the sofa
waiting for the hairdresser, falling asleep while you are having your
hair washed for you – 'a head massage? Yes please', the buzz of the
salon around you, the cup of tea the apprentice makes for you and the
styling that you could never possibly do for yourself.
Rather than leaving feeling like a
relaxed yummy mummy with a birthday bounce in her step and a
beautiful, tangle free hairdo I left with damp, stringy hair that was
slightly shorter than it had been when I went in and a sour look on
my face that my husband could see from a block away.
 |
| a swim at Mallacoota |
Instead of correctly and regularly
conditioning my hair this summer I have been swimming, swimming,
swimming. As a family we swim in the creek at my mums every
afternoon. We have been to every beach in Gippsland that we can and
quite a few rivers too. Rafa loves it, and smiling back at my
beautiful son while he experiences the wonder that is 'swimming' is
irreplaceable.
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| Family swim at Betka Beach, Mallacoota |
I haven't added bad hair to my list of
things to feel guilty about – the list is long enough already -
and includes:
going to the toilet when the baby wants
to play/ be fed/ have a cuddle
trying to eat the baby wants to play/
be fed/ have a cuddle
trying to sleep when the baby wants to
play/ be fed/ have a cuddle
But I have crossed that particular
hairdresser off my list of places to return to.
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| Rafa and Rover mum swim in the Boggy Creek - Nowa Nowa |
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| Rafa and his dad swim in the Boggy Creek - Nowa Nowa |
As his Dad says how many babies could do this in Scotland?
ReplyDeleteThey are the fun times watching baby Rafa kicking and licking in the water